Warming is higher than the 1°C average over land, with temperatures as much as three times higher in the Arctic, causing melting. Extreme temperatures, rainfall, and sea levels have been pushed higher.

Massive and rapid transformations across societies will be needed to keep to a 1.5°C target, with dramatic cuts to fossil fuel use across all sectors of society.

This summer saw even the last vestiges of climate science denial wake up or give in to reality. A summer so in your face, so relentless that even the most paid-up, bought-off Petrol Heads couldn’t continue to stomach the fight.

Matthew Hancock

Background

Matt Hancock is a Conservative politician and has served as MP for West Suffolk since 2010. Following the Cabinet reshuffle on 9 July 2018, he was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

Previously, Hancock has served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and he held the position of Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change between 15 July 2014 and 11 May 2015.

Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies, has gained privileged access to the UN climate change negotiations while pushing the same unworkable solutions for almost 20 years, internal company documents reveal.

Analysis of these documents, combined with new sources freshly uncovered by DeSmog UK, shows that while Shell’s understanding of the science developed, its proposed solution to the problem has remained remarkably static.

Legatum Institute

Background

The Legatum Institute was founded in 2007 by Dubai private investment firm Legatum Foundation, and became a registered charity in 2015. It is currently run by Baroness Philippa Stroud, a Conservative politician who vocally supports a hard Brexit. Baroness Stroud was appointed CEO in 2016.

There can be no mistake: as early as 1981, big oil company Shell was aware of the causes and dangers of climate change.

These documents show Shell walking backwards. In the 1980s it was acknowledging anthropogenic global warming. Then, as the scientific consensus became more and more clear, it started introducing doubt and giving weight to a “significant minority” of “alternative viewpoints” as the full implications for the company's business model became clear.

The UK government has excluded climate change from a proposed post-Brexit green watchdog, raising concerns about enforcement of climate laws when the country leaves the EU.

In a consultation document, the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) outlined plans to establish a body that could issue “advisory notices” if the government fell short of its duty to implement environmental law.

It would not be empowered to take the government to court, nor would it cover “matters related to climate change”, which Defra argued were covered by existing bodies, principally the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

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"Fossil-fuel companies have spent millions funding anti-global-warming think tanks, purposely creating a climate of doubt around the science. DeSmogBlog is the antidote to that obfuscation." ~ BRYAN WALSH, TIME MAGAZINE